As long as I could remember, I have lived to serve my masters, known only as number 198. My life is filled with only one purpose; to feed my queen and her many servants with my emotions. I can't imagine a life without my purpose and emotions.
One day, however, I meet a newcomer who makes me feel an emotion long forgotten. But love is just another one of those bothersome emotions that only hurt in the end. Right? I open my eyes to Darkness.
As long as I could remember, darkness has been one of my closest companions, as well as one of my greatest comforts. As I wait for my eyes to adjust, I take a deep breath, and the scent of fresh moss, as well as my natural body odours, fill my nostrils. There is something else, however. Something strange and wet.
The smell is accompanied by a noise that I have grown used to; the noise of the sad and despairing. I smile to myself, happy in the knowledge that soon, their misery will leave them, only to be replaced by the same numbness that I have felt for as long as I can remember. The numbness is a gift that our masters give us in return for our servitude, and the new number will learn to want it just like we do now.
My eyes have fully adjusted to the darkness, though I still can’t see anything. In order to get a picture of my surroundings, I extend one of my tiny, frail, red wings and press it against the wall next to me. A sudden sensation of cold shocks the appendage, but I do not resist, allowing the feeling to spread to the rest of my body. Adapting quickly to the temperature, I begin to move, using the wall to guide myself until I can make out a metallic bar glinting in a tiny sliver of light. I slowly pull my wing back, and I walk towards the light.
Soon, I’m near the edge of my home, blue stone walls visible in the dim light, water dripping out of poorly patched cracks. The stone walls block out the sound of the struggling ponies on the other side. The metallic bars sit tauntingly just a few feet away, but as soon as I reach out, I am stopped by the chains binding me. Long ago, I had learned that fighting the chains would achieve nothing more than displeasing my masters, and so I stop.
Looking down, I see blood leaking out of one of the many small scars covering my entire body. Going over to one of the walls, I take a piece of moss in my mouth and press it to my bleeder. I am struck by a painful stinging sensation that lasts a couple of seconds. Once it is over, however, I see that the blood is now unnoticeable, blending into my deep red coat. Hopefully, my masters will not notice that I had transgressed their wishes.
A voice calls out. "Wake up! It is time for your service!"
At the sound of my master, I jolt to attention and sit upright to show that I am prepared for duty.
"That's a good little Pony! Now walk up to the front of your cell so that we can take the chains off of you," the master says as the clang of a lock is heard.
Obeying his orders, I walk up to the barred door of my cell, moving as close as I can before my movement is restricted by the chains binding me. The master moves up to me and removes the chains, allowing me some freedom to move. The master that is coming to retrieve me today looks the same as the rest of them. He has a black body, with multiple holes in his hooves and a blue, torn up mane and matching tail. His wings are just like the others; beautiful and translucently blue, putting my ugly feathered wings to shame. My masters are truly the most perfect creatures in this world.
I feel the weight of my chains gone and find myself able to move freely. I stand up and follow my master out of my home, placing myself in a line with other ponies performing their daily duties. This is always the longest part of the day. I always feel rather impatient, simply waiting for my masters to retrieve me, but I dare not display it. Disrespecting one of my masters would be simply unthinkable.
As I move closer and closer to the end of the line, I feel more and more anxious, though I do not show it. All of a sudden, a pony near the end of the line snaps completely, and begins to tap his hooves loudly against the stone floor. The sharp sound echoes through the cave, drawing the attention of multiple masters. Coming in, they grab a hold of the struggling pony and fly him away.
Stupid idiot. He should have known better than to display impatience. All ponies, upon entry, are informed that they must not show, or more importantly waste, emotions at any time. Emotions are to be stored throughout the day, and will only be used in order to feed the queen.
Starting to get lost in my ocean of thoughts, I am suddenly startled by a shrieking cry. Everypony in the line turns their head towards the source, and I see a small, blue unicorn filly attempting to escape. I almost wish that she would succeed, but I knew full well that was impossible.
The filly makes it to the end of the cave, and I can feel hope starting to build, but that hope is crushed when the pony finds herself surrounded by dozens of masters. So many surround her that I soon lose sight of her in the swarm. It’s an event that happens all too commonly, always with the same result.
There is no escape from here.
Two years previously
Worry begins to fill my mind as I watch the light of the sun diminish little by little, only to be replaced by shadows. Thousands of little shadows that only multiply as more and more black creatures press against the sinister looking barrier surrounding all of Canterlot. I watch, feeling both fear and awe at the events transpiring before me.
My inner voice tells me to run, to find some sort of escape or hiding place, but my body doesn't obey. My mind is still trying to process what it is seeing. I stand there in the middle of the street, frozen in place, only to be moved by the occasional shove of a pony desperately trying to get to safety. The pushes cease as the sky above me turns dark as night itself. I wonder to myself if this is what eternal night would have looked like, but as soon as this thought pops up, I mentally chastise myself for thinking such silly things at a time like this.
I realise that I should be running for my life rather than standing here. Stretching my freezing wings, I prepare for flight. But all of a sudden, I hear a faint ripping noise and I look up in horror to see cracks spreading across the barrier. With a resounding CRACK, the dome gives way, and I can barely make out thousands of black shapes descending on me. Giving up trying to work out my wing stiffness, I flap my wings rapidly, giving myself the thrust necessary to lift off.
Once in the air, I try to get as far away from Canterlot as possible. Flying for what seemed like hours, I decided to take a quick rest on a cloud. Landing softly, I look back to make sure nothing is following me. I can’t see anything, but I can smell something burning in the air. With a start, I realise that something is burning. Somepony must have abandoned a fire, and now the entire city was burning.
The inferno is so large that I can feel the heat from my position, a few hours away. I keep debating with myself. Should I go back? It was too dangerous! Watching the fire for a couple more seconds, I make my decision and jump off the cloud. I quickly fly my way back to the city I had just escaped. As I approach, my wings gently fold back to my body as I land on the rooftop of a bakery. Tears start to slide down my face as I take in my surroundings.
How could a day that was supposed to be so perfect go so wrong? Today was supposed to be a happy day! It was the wedding day for Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor, for pony’s sake! A lump appears in my throat as I begin to think about my family. I still have no idea what happened to them. More tears slide down my face as I worry for all the ponies of Canterlot, when suddenly, someone prods me in the side. I swing around, raising my hooves, ready to fight if necessary.
"Whoa! Ease up, sister!" A white mare says. She has a huge smile on her face, and both of her hooves up in a traditional sign of peace. "You won't hurt a fellow pony, would you? These are hard times, but do we really have to start fighting each other?"
I let out a sigh of relief, and my speech takes a defensive tone. "Well, you shouldn't have scared me like that. It's like you were asking for an injury."
"Right... I’m sorry to tell you this, but you don't look like a fighter to me. Plus, those tears don't work in your favor." The mare says, embarrassing me slightly.
In order to, well, redeem myself in the eyes of this stranger, I quickly say, "Well, you can't expect me not to cry when there's a swarm of black creatures trying to take over Canterlot!"
"Changelings." The mare whispers.
"What did you say?" I ask.
"Those creatures attacking us are called Changelings," she says in a louder voice," Before you ask, Changelings are special creatures that can take the appearance of anypony or anything. They feed off of positive emotions.”
I study her face. Did she have some kind of ailment? Maybe Mad Pony Disease...
"I'm not crazy; what I’m telling you is the truth," She insists, and then adds, "by the way, I never got your name. I’m Mist Twirl; you can call me Mist. I think that you and I will make a great team.”
Mist holds out her hoof for me to shake, and I quickly think to myself, Aw, what the hay. She’s the first pony I’ve met since this began, and she seems to know more about this then I do.
I shake her hoof and reply, "My name is Sunrise Dasher. Nice to meet you."
Suddenly, everything goes black
I open my eyes with a start, and I bump my head against a hard surface, causing a throbbing pain to echo through my head. For a few moments my vision is blurry, and I begin to panic, but my sight returns to normal quickly. I still can't see anything. I try to rub my eyes with one of my front hooves, but I can't move it. Fear blossoms throughout me as I attempt to move another part of my body, but soon I tire myself out with little success. I guess I won't be leaving here for now.
Where is here, anyway? Where am I and why can't I move? I ask myself. I search my head for answers, but I find none. I scream at the top of my lungs , but no one notices or cares. What did I do to deserve this? I ask myself as more tears come and fear takes a hold of me. I begin to wonder if this is the end, but suddenly, I don't feel like crying anymore and the fear simply leaves. Soon I feel nothing; only a cold numbness where the sadness and fear used to be. That's when I remember that this is the gift of Queen Chrysalis had promised us. She promised to take away the pain, and that is what she just did. A small smile appears on my face.
